You Can Do Better Than 'Sent from My iPhone'

By Alexis C. Madrigal

My gloriously damaged iPhone screen with the magic words on it (Alexis Madrigal).

"Sent from my iPhone"

It began as a humblebrag and an excuse. It meant, "I am using an expensive mobile device to send this email, so please don't judge my spelling errors, lack of punctuation, or clipped sentences."

These signatures, automatically generated, would not have been an auspicious place to look for creativity or wry humor. And yet, it seems like every other day I come across someone who has crafted a little message that says and does a lot more than beg forgiveness and flaunt status.

I've seen it hundreds of times and I love it each time. (I read it in my sister's voice in my head -- "But duck it." -- and I laugh.)

Our friend Alissa Walker, who advocates for alternative transportation in LA, signs her messages, "Sent from the streets." VentureBeat's Dylan Tweney's just says, "Sent from my brain." My wife's used to say, "Sent from space." A chef, Samin Nosrat: "Sent from my pasta machine." One of our contacts at Microsoft uses, "Sent telepathically." A friend of a friend makes things explicit and ironic simultaneously: "Short and to the point...this email was sent from my mobile device." Another friend of the channel shows as well as tells, "Sent by my idDevices. May be rife with typos or poor judgment."

And it goes on and on.

Jokey: "Sent from my telco slingshot"

Deadpan: "Sent from Mobile Device"

Half-true: "Sent from a telephone

Calm: "Sent from the road."

Mysterious: "Sent from my illustrated primer."

Clever: "Sent from my camera."

Retro: "Sent from my steam-powered printing press"

Implausible: "Sent from the future."

The fact that one *can* change the signature text means that some people will, and when they do, it becomes a decision for everyone. Doing it says something, and not doing it says something. And once it's a choice, rather than a default, creativity and identity signaling will creep in through that crevice.

And it got me thinking: there should be a Hall of Fame for these lines, a gallery of all the permutations that humans can generate playing off a single line of default text. I'm going to take your submissions here and post a top 10 tomorrow.

Behold the form. It's got three pieces: The line itself, any backstory, and your information. If you *don't* want me to use your name, let me know in the backstory bit.

P.S. I'll give you a hint on how to find the good ones searching your Gmail: Search exactly this string: "sent from" is:important -phone -ipad -iphone.